What Do They Do Wih The Stuff They Get

[ray23]

Noticed this on a another forum:

"Absolutley, in fact on the Thai TV tonight they were showing film from Angkhan. The hilltribes are having some type of celebration, plus, groups were delivering clothing and blankets. I am sure it will be crowded also. "

This has been going on for five years now, surely at some point they have been given enough blankets.

Are they for resale or to keep warm?

[torrenova]

Can't comment on these recipients but other "worthy" recipients are not unaccustomed to selling the goods they receive and thus, the real beneficiaries are those who supply them and the middle men who take their cut.

If you are getting something for nothing are you ever going to say enough is enough ? Not likely !

[ray23]

Just a sign of my sick mind I suppose. But it would seem normal to me to clean the blankets and keep using them. Oh well it must make someone feel good about giving them so probably worthwhile in the end.

[Heng]

Yeah, why don't they just throw them in their blanket/clothing storage warehouses?

Likely the blanket(s) gets used year round. I know we have to replace my dog's blankets each year as they get worn down pretty good, and my dogs aren't even using them to rest on, sleep on, dine on, raise and possibly deliver children on, etc.

[HobbsTheFerociousTiger]

I love those Chang blankets. Always visit the 'Tribes to go pick up some cheap blankets. Perfect souvenir.

[ray23]

[bina]

flimsy fall apart decay and are totally useless after a year of heavy use.... ; we have one at home and it is for 'atmosphere' for hubby ... no real use. actually totally useless against cold... but pretty

[tijnebijn]

probably manufactured in China

[PaulUSA302]

This may be off topic but being here in the USA, I wonder..... If I were in need and a big bag of grain was left at my door, what would I do with it? I guess I would be like other Americans and starve to death laying next to a 50lbs bag of grain...

Back on topic.... How many blankets does one need? It is HOT in Thailand... Sure it gets a little chilly in Chiang Mai but after receiving the over 20 blankets from the very nice and insistent do-gooders.... Who could refuse them?

What would it hurt if they were to sell the blanket and use it to buy some rice and grain....

[ray23]

Bina thanks that I believe.

Paul it is very cold now in Udon now, The Mae Hong song area even more so.

I defiently see the need, just why not the reuse, Bena took care of that

[bina]

and it is cold in thailand depending where u are.... i was cold, freezing cold in february in ban chiang... it was boiling hot some days and other days i was glad i had my fleece (synthetic warm jacket microfiber stuff) jacket... but boiled water for putting in shower bucket and slept with clothes and socks...and i cursed the day i thought thailand was always hot.

maybe just some codl climate europeans dont understand that to some of us, anything under 22 degrees celsius is very cold.... especially when u dont have the proper clothing -kids with no socks, lightweight cotton or synthetic clothes, no knowledge of how to dress to keep warm, old people more sensitive to cold- housing that is less then adequate (wooden slat walls so the wind blows thru, sheet metal flaps, same same, totally open air shacks with the people sleeping on the 'porch' area, high alcohol consumption as thai people think that it warms u up (u feel warm but it makes u cold), i also think that thai have a different physiological reaction to heat and cold. they dont seem to sweat as much as we do in the humidity and heat, but they react very quickly to mild cool weather (as cold) not subjectively as in just 'feeling cold' but actually physiologically . not sure if this is a real thing or not, just my general observation.

for instance, it was 10 degrees here today, and i had a hat, three layers of winter weight clothes (long sleeves, sweatshirt and fleece jacket and i was freezing cold. the american kids (mostly from the northeast) all were for the most part in sweatshirts or long shirts and that was that...

its like people that think that deserts are hot. try camping out in our desert in january at night. hypothermia is a real danger.

thus the heavy need and over use of the blankets.

bina

[billd766]

Bina

We live in Central Thailand 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet on the edge of Mae Wong national park.

A couple of times This year (2008) the nighttime temperature has been 12 or 13 deg. My friend on the other side of Mae Wong usually is around 5 deg colder than us.

My Thai family and the people who work for us are usually well wrapped up and they sit around wood fires in the morning and evening to keep warm. For me it is not so bad as I have several layers of fat to keep me warm.

The consumption of hot ovaltine has shot up in the last few days.

Just after lunch it is around 27 deg but by sunset you can fell the temperature dropping.

I will swear I saw a polar bear in my fish pond this week or perhaps it was something to do with rum and coke to keep me warm.

Oddly enough the family STILL take ice in the whisky.

:D

[bina]

well, husband likes the house to be warm but leaves door and windows open for 'air' since he's grown up in an open air house all his life. we sleep (well, i do ) with a duvet and a flannel sheet and top sheet. he throws his off, i freeze, due to window being open... he's just naturally warm all the time. he refuses to wear a winter coat, and last time it snowed (a rare occasion so everyone goes out to see it) he wore flip flops. we just put plastic bags in our shoes and look like war time berlin in the snow with plastic bags over our coats and in our shoes along with newspapers. its a waste of money to buy cold weather gear for one day every few years..

about the over use of things.

he has this habit of washing hats, coats, backpacks blankets after every few uses. which ruins backpacks and hats and coats and even decent blankets. he doesnt seem to realize that when u buy an expensive fleece cap or hat, it really doesnt need to be machine washed every few uses unless u get really really dirty cause it just ruins them.... didnt win that one. our thai blanket is used as a wall decoration for 'ambience' only. its thin, flimsy, and totally not warm or useful. pique or flannel is thin, warm and functional. i sent my sis in laws fleece blankets for their babies and kids. probably washed to death also.

the sitting around fires is annoying since it/s cold when u leave the fire, or u have to be really close and u burn your face or breathe in all the smoke made from plastic bags and other junk thrown in to the fire. at least thats what happens here with the thai workers. unfortunately, and on the subject of space heaters, yesterday a thai worker burned to death in moshav kfar achim; probably due to electric problem or incorrect use of the electric heater; like cooking dried meat on it, or clothing too close, or being drunk and sleeping too close. a real tragedy. they also burn fires really close to living quarters and burn everything burnable : plastic, wet wood, paper, leaves, etc...

or sit around wearing five layers of clothing. but here they are given the clothing. in thailand how many thai in the country have decent cold weather clothes. which is probably why the death rate goes up with the old folks as someone mentioned in the issan forum.

[Johpa]

Noticed this on a another forum:

"Absolutley, in fact on the Thai TV tonight they were showing film from Angkhan. The hilltribes are having some type of celebration, plus, groups were delivering clothing and blankets. I am sure it will be crowded also. "

This has been going on for five years now, surely at some point they have been given enough blankets.

Are they for resale or to keep warm?

Having once lived up in the hills for a few years, I must confess that I never saw any families selling or trading these blankets. I also know that these are relatively inexpensive blankets, they are not woven wool blankets, and they do not hold up well to hand washing.

[GuestHouse]

I suggest that before denigrating others for their charity in giving out blankets, it might be a good idea to spend a few nights sleeping halfway up a northern Thai mountain in the cold season.

It might then become apparent that the 'Do-Gooders' are actually helping people who are in real need of help.

[Heng]

Sucks when folks show up and try to add logic to a good whinge thread. Thread killers.

[ray23]

" suggest that before denigrating others for their charity in giving out blankets, it might be a good idea to spend a few nights sleeping halfway up a northern Thai mountain in the cold season.

It might then become apparent that the 'Do-Gooders' are actually helping people who are in real need of help"

Well first let me say thanks for the constructive comments, now this one really throws me.

If you don't understand something and you are making an effort to understand, isn't a reasonable method of gaining information to ask a question?

Now the question wasn't about the giver, but why they were not used more then one season. That has been answered.

So I will assume that this comment was not directed at me, at no time do I feel like I denigrated anyone.

[zzdocxx]

FWIW I have noticed that people from places that are usually quite hot, they seem to get cold rather easily.

Edited January 6, 2008 by zzdocxx

[bina]

im originally from a cold place and suffered from cold; now im in a place that to me is cold and i suffer; however when i make the rare trip back to boston etc, then i remember what REAL cold is... and my jerusalem winter gear is useless ...

the main point is that often people give supplies to others without thinking that maybe some explanation is needed. (not with blankets maybe but obviuosly other things)... the washing machines that we help procure for a lot of the thai workers here: its so frustrating. we find good working machines, drive and deliver and then i mark the correct cycles, and show them how to use the machines, how much detergent (they just dump some in, a waste of money and detergent) etc.

inevitably my husband gets phone calls that the machine doesnt work. when we haul ourselves up north to looksee, well, it was overloaded, or they washed the machine with a hose and the electric got wet, or socks got thrown outside the drum and got caught, or the turned the switch in the wrong direction and it stuck... the list is just full of situations that i never contemplated when training someone to use a washing machine.

they all always say that they just never used a machine (true, not this kind anyway) and they dont remember, or they told their friend and he did it wrong, or they did it and it didnt work so did something that seemed similar...

all this makes me nuts!!! cause then they blame me for giving them a machine that doesnt work...

all this has nothing to do with cheap blankets falling apart but more about giving things with good intentions.... (well they pay for the machines we just find them since we are mobile) but is about taking care of things....

perhaps also people forgot that it used to be that u had one sweater, a few shirts, and some pants and that was that, and u wore them and laundered them until they were threadbare and fell apart until next season rolled around to get new ones if u could.

bina

[Zpete]

im originally from a cold place and suffered from cold; now im in a place that to me is cold and i suffer; however when i make the rare trip back to boston etc, then i remember what REAL cold is... and my jerusalem winter gear is useless ...

the main point is that often people give supplies to others without thinking that maybe some explanation is needed. (not with blankets maybe but obviuosly other things)... the washing machines that we help procure for a lot of the thai workers here: its so frustrating. we find good working machines, drive and deliver and then i mark the correct cycles, and show them how to use the machines, how much detergent (they just dump some in, a waste of money and detergent) etc.

inevitably my husband gets phone calls that the machine doesnt work. when we haul ourselves up north to looksee, well, it was overloaded, or they washed the machine with a hose and the electric got wet, or socks got thrown outside the drum and got caught, or the turned the switch in the wrong direction and it stuck... the list is just full of situations that i never contemplated when training someone to use a washing machine.

they all always say that they just never used a machine (true, not this kind anyway) and they dont remember, or they told their friend and he did it wrong, or they did it and it didnt work so did something that seemed similar...

all this makes me nuts!!! cause then they blame me for giving them a machine that doesnt work...

all this has nothing to do with cheap blankets falling apart but more about giving things with good intentions.... (well they pay for the machines we just find them since we are mobile) but is about taking care of things....

perhaps also people forgot that it used to be that u had one sweater, a few shirts, and some pants and that was that, and u wore them and laundered them until they were threadbare and fell apart until next season rolled around to get new ones if u could.

bina

Washing machines are made by humans.

So logically, humans will find ways to stuff 'em up........ LOL